What is a SENCO?

23 January 2018

Definition of a SENCO:

A Special Educational Needs Coordinator (SENCO for short) is a teacher who is responsible for special educational needs at school. Every school in the UK is obliged to employ a SENCO as they ensure all students with learning disabilities are well equipped to obtain the right help and support they need at school.

Which students are considered SEN?

Students who are considered to learn at a slower rate compared to pupils of the same age. If your student is SEN, they may need more support at school with a range of tasks, such as

schoolwork

reading, writing, numeracy or taking in information

befriending peers or conversing with adults

getting organised

a kind of sensory or physical need which may affect them in school e.g. not liking certain sounds

expressing themselves or understanding what others are saying to them

behaving appropriately in school

What does a SENCO do?

A SENCO will ensure that students who feel left behind academically, have the necessary support to be able to continue learning at a similar pace to their peers. This is mainly the case for many students are who are SEN.

A SENCO will deal with children to

work with them to help them with their learning

help other teachers and staff working with them at school

ensure that their parents or carers know about their educational disadvantage and keep them up to date with their progress and needs

make sure that information about their needs is collected and kept up-to-date

In a school where the student count is not that high, the head teacher or deputy head teacher may take on the role of SENCO. In larger schools there may be a special, designated SEN team (with more than one SENCO) which may include teaching assistants. Many children and young people on the autism spectrum are SEN and so SENCOs should know about autism and other elements of the autism spectrum as part of their job. SENCOs will also keep the parents, teachers and other related professionals close to the student such as educational psychologists up to date about their progress.